Scholars Plead with NACIQI to Deny DEAC Charter this June, Hold Accountable

Yep. Not one of these for-profit juggernauts is currently on public show cause by DEAC, just little out of the way not-for-profit WLC. And, just in time to be tough on someone for DEAC's upcoming NACIQI approval. (Ellis lasted 7 years before public action after losing regional, WLC was given 28 days after surprise public action to respond).

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/college-regulator-proves-asleep-wheel/

 

Incredible!

 

And I hold two DEAC accredited degrees! I hope DEAC gets their head handed to them on a platter in the lawsuit.

 

I have 3, so this is no self serving quest.

 

AND, representatives from the schools mentioned in this article made up 30% of the DEAC commissioners who voted to put WLC on show cause.

 

That makes it even worst! I will say this. At least Michael Lambert was approachable. It sounds like this Leah lady is not. Not a good thing to say the least.

 

The plot thickens...

 

LNGTJ! During the years Michael Lambert was running DETC/DEAC, from time to time I would ask him about things they had done that were a clear violation of their charter, such as granting accreditation to a department of a university rather than the entire university, or granting accreditation to a school offering the Ph.D. Lambert's response: "Let's not go there, John." LNGTJ. Will the Department of Education require them to 'go there'? I would not be disappointed.

 

Huh, and people said I was overreacting when I mentioned the possibility of the DEAC being thrown into the For-Profit attack line...

This isn't going to end well, and the sad part is that a lot of innocent people are about to be hurt. One of my degrees is from a DEAC school, and I would be devastated if they fell. However, if the reasons are legit I would have to respect it.

"Despite enrolling more than 35,000 students at the time and boasting that “93 percent of students report achieving their goals after completing their studies,” the college could not afford to pay the $11 million fine.

I never agreed with the mob who went after Ashworth over the employment opportunity claims. AC's claims were pretty standard. They never "promised" anything, they simply said it could be done just as other schools do. A big issue is, because it's open enrollment and stacked with diploma programs with no admission requirements, Ashworth unfortunately gets what I think of as the "Walmart crowd" of students. Students who have no business going near college coursework, have short fuses, and poor reasoning skills. It's not that the complaint with the FTC was really valid in my view, it's just that enough people complained and jumped on the bandwagon making it easier for the FTC to make this move on the heels of the current for-profit witch hunt.

All of that said, the quote of Ashworth not being able to pay for the fine is startling. Ashworth is the DEAC's flagship school at this point. 35,000 students (I've heard that number is actually higher) is A LOT of students. If they can't come up with 11 million dollars, something is going very VERY wrong there.

 

My company is significantly larger than Ashworth and I think we'd be hardpressed to just "come up with" $11M on the fly. Most organizations don't just have that much free cash floating around. If they do, well, then their CFO is likely a candidate for getting sacked.

 

I think that we should remember that lawsuits always reach for the stars so they could be talked down in price. So a lawsuit for 17 mill might settle for 4 or 5 mill. I don't think it is the amount that matters here, but the principle.

 

Nah. Any successful business running properly is going to have insurance and some funds available to take care of legal issues, if not you're just asking to go under because practically every successful business runs into some kind of serious lawsuit at some point in its history.

Ashworth brings in revenue of about or a little greater than 20 Million per year and has been for quite some time, and compared to schools with far fewer enrollments Ashworth actually has less overhead than most if not all of those schools (and that's a potential issue for discussion for another day). The writers of the report saw their inability to pay as a red flag as they had to have recognized the level of success the program has had for so long. I think they were spot on in that assessment.

 

When I started my edu journey, I reached out to Michael Lambert and asked many questions over a period of 2 weeks. He answered every one of them kindly and thoroughly like I was the only student ever applying to a DETC school. He was the reason why I enrolled at Ashworth for a AS and then at Aspen in 2005-ish for my BSBA.

DETC (DEAC) degrees have served me very well in my career, never have I had an employer question my degree validity/utility and twice I received 50% raises in pay when I attained the next degree and moved my next employer. (I spent $7000 or so on my DETC degrees and received over $110,000 return in 4 years)

I hope DEAC doesn't go away, it has served a good purpose. But I do not like what is happening to WLC. If I remember correctly, Dr Lady was working at Aspen when I was attending there so I knew his reputation was good, so last year when he inquired on this forum for people to donate their time to help WLC go for RA, I didn't hesitate to volunteer.

I hope things turn out well for both parties involved. But one of them has issues and I do not think it is WLC.


Michael

 

It will not go away. There are many, many wonderful schools that hold DEAC accreditation. I do not like the wholesale trashing of DEAC schools.

 

I agree with you. It is IMHO a weird sub-context to many posts that by forcing them to follow the law, and their own processes, and be accountable for their actions, it means they will somehow go away.

 

David,

Just as DEAC winning the lawsuit could have extreme consequence on WLC and as you pointed out, your personal reputation also . . . . if WLC wins . . . . it could be a organization killer for DEAC, either financially or reputation. It got to this point because DEAC believes they are not wrong and chose not to audit their actions associated with WLC.

The outcome of the case will set a precedent on how other university/colleges will deal with DEAC and vis versa.



Michael